Children England to develop campaigning focus

The manifesto, which will be finalised at its annual conference in February next year, will play an important part in Children England repositioning itself as a campaigning organisation for the children's voluntary sector following the recent severing of funding ties with the Department for Education.

The move is the brainchild of new Children England chief executive Kathy Evans, who sees it as an opportunity to harness the heritage and experience of the membership to create a "national voice" for the sector.

She told CYP Now: "The members will be able to put forward their top priorities which will then be voted on at a summit. It will give us a clear policy mandate for the next five years, and we will be taking that to all the political parties in 2015."

Evans took over as CEO in April after three years as deputy chief executive. This has coincided with the organisation ending its strategic partnership with the DfE, a change that Evans said gives it new "freedom" to challenge government policy. 

"We have changed function. We are not funded to represent the sector to the DfE now but do still have good relations with the DfE," Evans said. "My hope is that we can provide a platform for saying things that individual organisations can’t say on their own. We want to provide a vehicle for strengthening the voice and sector."

Over the autumn, Children England will ask members to submit their policy priorities in nine areas, including education, health and youth work. Working groups made up of members will then whittle these down to a shortlist for debate at the annual conference where the final selection will be decided.

See next week's CYP Now for an interview with Kathy Evans.